Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships
Gerald Swindle has no history with Lake Travis. He’d never seen the gorgeous 18,000 acre reservoir along the Colorado River in the Texas Hill Country until arriving for practice on Mother’s Day.
But after another long 12-hour day of practice, he likes what he sees.
“Well, I just saw a woman swim across the cove with her Larbradoodle, that was interesting. And they dang sure like to party on this lake, even on a Monday,” says the hilarious Team Toyota pro.
“It’s also full of fish. I think it’s gonna surprise people what we catch here this week. There’s a ton of bass swimming here. The challenge will be getting that big bite or two to separate yourself from the pack,” he explains.
Water temps are ranging 77 to 80. It’s full post-spawn mode, and how you choose to catch them is up to you. Swindle says most of the baitfish he saw on Lake Travis were super tiny shoreline minnows.
“You name it – we’ll be throwing it this week,” says Swindle. “Drop shot, Ned Rig, a casting jig, Shaky head, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, deep cranking — it’s all in play this week.”
Swindle piloted his Tundra roughly 14 hours to get to Austin after saying a brutally tough, heartbreaking goodbye to his dog Myrick, but Lake Travis has been reason to smile again for the highly accomplished Quantum pro.
“Grand Lake and Kentucky Lake, where we just came from, were places I’d been many times before, but bites were tough to come by,” says Swindle.
“We weighed-in big bags, but bites were real tough to get. Coming here to Travis was a long drive, but kind of cool like getting a Christmas present. You’re excited to unwrap it, and see what you got, and so far, I like what we’ve got here.”
“I think one of the reasons Lake Travis is good is because there’s not a lot of fishing pressure. Now look, there’s party pressure – if the bass bit Bud Light cans here they’d be in trouble, because these locals know how to party – especially with the weather being so hot this week – like hotter than Miranda Lambert in yoga pants,” he concluded.
